The US wants to ban your face wash

In as little as one year, your favorite exfoliating face washes
and lotions may begin to disappear from store shelves in the US.

That's because the House of Representatives just
approved a bill on Dec. 8 that would ban the sale of cosmetic
products containing "microbeads" — the small plastic beads
interspersed throughout some exfoliating facial scrubs,
toothpastes, and moisturizers — across the country.

The tiny beads, often measuring less than 5 millimeters in size,
are an environmental nightmare, as they leach into rivers and
streams, polluting waterways and endangering wildlife.

If the bill passes the Senate, the US will begin halting
production of hundreds of products containing the pinhead-sized
beads on January 1, 2017.

The legislation would also ban the use of these tiny plastic
beads in all cosmetics starting in 2018, and in all
over-the-counter pharmaceuticals beginning in 2019,
according to NBC News.

They're calling the legislation The Microbead Free Waters Act.

Microbeads have been under heavy scrutiny for years, but
especially in recent months. A study published in the journal
Environmental Science and Technology in September 2015 estimates
that a staggering 8 trillion
microbeads pass through sewage systems and are deposited into
US aquatic habitats every single day.

"Microbeads, those tiny plastic particles that have recently been
added to cosmetic products to add 'abrasion and exfoliation,' are
finding their way into our lakes, rivers, streams and the ocean,"
Wildlife Conservation Society's executive vice president of
public affairs John Calvelli
said in a statement of support of the ban on Wednesday.
"Because they are too tiny for sewage treatment plants, they are
not filtered out of the effluent that runs into our waterways."

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman's office released
a report in April 2015 demonstrating that 74% of water
samples from 34 municipal and private treatment plants in New
York state contained microbeads.

When these beads run into our lakes, rivers, streams, and seas,
they can cause incredible damage. The synthetic polymers live
there forever; and toxic chemicals tend to adhere to the tiny
plastic balls.

And because the beads float rather than sink to the bottom, they
become easy snacks for sea creatures, who often
mistake them for tasty fish eggs.

Thousands
of aquatic creatures — from large fish to tiny plankton — eat
these harmful beads covered in toxins, which then accumulate in
their bodies and eventually may end up on our dinner table.

New York City council members
announced new legislation
Sept. 30 to ban the sale of microbead-containing products.

Other states including
California and Illinois,
have banned microbeads, but bans in New York have failed in the
past. Attorney General Schneiderman
introduced a bill to the New York State legislature in 2014
aiming to ban the sale of products with microbeads smaller than 5
millimeters in size.

The push to pass this ban has
been slow, in part because there are still gaps in our
scientific understanding of how, exactly, plastic microbeads
impact aquatic ecosystems. Nevertheless, authors of the Environmental
Science and Technology paper argue, "this should not delay
action."

Check out a
list of products that would potentially be banned if the new
US law passes. Is your face wash on there?